Passover
Cidu Bill on Mar 27th 2010
My kids were usually the only Jewish kids in their preschools and kindergartens, and this was never an issue. I brought matzoh into the classrooms; but instead of gefilte fish and horseradish, I brought
and
and
Throw in an age-appropriate retelling of Exodus, and a good time was had by all.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Edge City, Passover, comic strips, comics, humor | 68 responses so far
RyanE Mar 27th 2010 at 01:56 am 1
Horseradish is Jewish?
One more thing we owe y’all for.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 02:10 am 2
Horseradish isn’t of Jewish origin, RyanE; but, like hardboiled eggs, it’s part of the seder meal — and probably something a Jewish kid would only associate with Passover.
mkilby Mar 27th 2010 at 02:12 am 3
I’ve been told that the main disadvantage of a peanut butter and jelly on matzoh sandwich is that as soon as you bite into it, you are suddenly juggling about 5 or 6 peanut butter and jelly on matzoh sandwiches. This is undoubtably entertaining for everyone watching.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 02:25 am 4
Not to get too Judaically pedantic here, but most American Jews won’t eat peanut butter during Passover (it’s complicated).
ted in fort lauderdale Mar 27th 2010 at 03:02 am 5
Well, I neither I nor my kids ever experienced any level of “unknown-ness” at school, as I grew up in south Florida (Dade county - Miami area) and now live just a bit further north (Broward county - Fort Lauderdale area, just south of Boca Raton…). While not _quite_ hip deep in Jews, we were never close to the only ones in our classes (around here, the public schools are closed for the High Holy Days, and these are multi-hundred-thousand student, county-wide school systems…) - I don’t think any of the teachers would have needed to import a parent to tell the Exodus story. We also usually had/have at least a few non-MOT friends at Seders (in some I’ve hosted, we’ve been outnumbered…)
That said, I can almost understand Edge City’s approach, as I’d guess Jews may still be a bit exotic in many parts of the country (or more likely, are assumed to be so by those living in the major centers, like the writers of this strip).
However, even though I agree that the gefilte fish and horseradish wouldn’t fly, I’d have to say that I’d pass on the jellies, the candied fruit, and the marshmallows and don’t know any kids who would eat them (well, maybe the marshmallows) and I’m the only one in my family who will eat macaroons (and that in fairly small doses). This doesn’t leave us dessert-less - my mother used to make really good pesachdik mocha and lemon/apricot tortes (no, those were 2 separate cakes…) and I make a killer (if I say so myself) flourless chocolate cake…
ted in fort lauderdale Mar 27th 2010 at 03:25 am 6
And as far as peanut butter is concerned - I’ve personally never really bought into the whole kitniyot argument (it’s too based on pretty far-fetched hypotheticals to make much sense to me, and the hard-core (like my sister) keep adding new rules as if it’s a game to be more strict each year). There is apparently a growing movement - even amongst Ashkenazi (Modern?) Orthodox, even in Israel, and led by some fairly significant rabbis - to abandon the rules as not halachic and not relevant in Israel (or the US). They have _my_ blessing :-)…
Sili Mar 27th 2010 at 03:26 am 7
You mean, how Yahweh will deliberately harden the harden the heart of pharaoh so that He can send his angel of death to kill the firstborns of every household that has not smeared the lintel with blood, only to then drown pharaoh for wanting revenge?
Sari Everna Mar 27th 2010 at 04:32 am 8
Well, I don’t really know much of anything about passover, it being a holiday with no effect on me, but those fruit jelly whatsits; we have them around near Christmas, sometimes. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
Ben Carlsen Mar 27th 2010 at 09:55 am 9
I read the text in the RSS feed first without seeing the comic, so I thought this was going to be about Baby Blues. As I recall, they’re of the Jewish persuasion, through the mom of course.
Molly J Mar 27th 2010 at 10:05 am 10
Jelly slices rawk.
Back to the regularly scheduled discussion.
Keera Mar 27th 2010 at 10:13 am 11
Amazingly (I guess), I was never exposed to anything or anyone Jewish growing up so most foods and customs are unfamiliar to me. If any Jews were around, I simply didn’t know. But going by the food, I’m glad I’m not Jewish.
With the exception of the macaroons, none of those sweets appeal to me. Or if I were Jewish, I’d be Ted (apparently).
harvling Mar 27th 2010 at 10:21 am 12
ted in fort lauderdale: “non-MOT” translation, please?
Mark M Mar 27th 2010 at 10:39 am 13
The mom in the strip just needs to be sure to tell her daughter not to refer to Judaism or Passover when handing out the food but instead call them “holiday treats”. The school would be endorsing a religion if they allowed that.
Jon88 Mar 27th 2010 at 10:43 am 14
Ah, hard-boiled eggs. One of the great mysteries of the seder. There’s a roasted egg on the seder plate, but otherwise, no mention of eggs. And yet, every seder I’ve ever attended, and everyone I’ve ever asked about, hard-boiled eggs were on the table. I’d say the concept had gone viral, but you don’t really want to think about eggs and viruses together.
Charlene Mar 27th 2010 at 11:06 am 15
MOT = Member of the Tribe.
I love Passover. It gives me the chance to stock-up on soy-free products that aren’t available the rest of the year.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 11:07 am 16
Ted, I’m not sure the teachers needed me to do this, but I enjoyed doing it and my kids were still young enough to think it was cool that their father came in to tell stories and hand out goodies.
And Sili, I never said it was easy. Chanukah had its own complications, since there was a Greek kid in each of my kids’ classes so I had to dance around naming the villains in that story.
MarkM, we’ve been fortunate never to have lived in a community of idiots. Our high school’s holiday concerts — and even the non-holiday concerts — contain all manner of religious music, and nobody’s ever gotten their knickers in a twist.
harvling Mar 27th 2010 at 11:23 am 17
Thanks, Charlene!
Mark M Mar 27th 2010 at 11:47 am 18
Glad to hear that Bill. Once we actually had elementary school teachers, not school administrators, students, or parents, shut down a performance of The Nutcracker because of the Christmas theme - a very light Christmas theme, if you are familiar with it. This came after weeks of practice. Some parents volunteered and the performance took place without help from any teachers, but it still makes me shake my head in disbelief to this day.
turquoise cow Mar 27th 2010 at 12:14 pm 19
I have very, very little experience with Jewish traditions and food, since the community I grew up in was mostly Italian Catholics and a few Protestants. But I have eaten several dozen of those marshmallow twists in the last week. I work in the corporate office of a supermarket, and there are always samples of random foods around for communal consumption. One of the kosher food vendors must have brought in a hundred cases of those marshmallow twists (plain and strawberry-flavored) and jelly rings, because everywhere I go I see another box of them. And when I was in the store, all the passover items were marked down right after the end of the holiday, and someone would always buy macaroons and we’d all eat them. I’ve never had the fruit slices, though.
Morris Keesan Mar 27th 2010 at 12:17 pm 20
My family (both sides) has never had the hard-boiled eggs tradition, and I can only recall having them at one family’s seders.
We’ve also always had peanut butter, even while mostly obeying the rest of the kitniyot rules. I think my mother’s reasoning was based on the “Kosher L’Pesach” stickers on the bottles of Planter’s peanut oil Peanut butter and matzah sandwiches were my Pesach staple throughout elementary school, back before anyone I knew had ever heard of peanut allergies.
It would never occur to me to send food in with my child to teach the class about Judaism, but this year I’m sending some candy to his teacher: on a few days this week and next week they’re taking a standardized state test, and the “Candy Fairy” has showed up partway through to give candy to the kids taking the tests (on the theory, I guess, that kids will do better on tests when they’re sugar-fueled). Since the next session is during Pesach, I bought a couple of bags of Pesachdik hard candy, enough for the whole 4th grade, so that everyone will be able to have some candy, without anyone feeling singled out (except, of course, for the hyper-allergic kids who won’t eat anything not given to them by their mothers).
And Keera #11, none of these foods are things a Jew has to eat. They’re all substitutes for things we can’t eat during the holiday. I like the brightly-colored fruit slices, but the chocolates with weird fillings are best left for other people, or the cat.
Elyrest Mar 27th 2010 at 01:02 pm 21
I absolutely love the Manishewitz macaroons. Every year during the season that they appear in the stores I stock up on them so I can eat then all year.
Mark in Boston Mar 27th 2010 at 01:08 pm 22
There’s nothing age-inappropriate about the story of Exodus. Kids LOVE stories about a plague of frogs, the Angel of Death killing every firstborn, and ESPECIALLY all of Pharaoh’s soldiers suddenly drowned in the middle of the Red Sea! I know because Sister Mary Whatshername read us all those stories in third grade.
Keera Mar 27th 2010 at 01:31 pm 23
Morris #20, I didn’t think the food was mandatory, but if you’re on a limited diet because of a holiday, it would be nice to like what is allowed.
Mark #22, I love and loved fairytales and good drama, but I have to admit that anything Biblical usually lost my interest very quickly and still does. Of course, perhaps Jews and Catholics tell the story in a far more interesting way than do stoic Lutherans, which is what I was exposed to.
Matthew Mar 27th 2010 at 01:51 pm 24
I thought that the no peanut butter rule was because Elijah didn’t like the smell of peanut butter on your breath.
I’m with Elyrest. I love the macroons, and the jelly slices, too.
As for religion in school: There are bone-headed teachers & administrators throughout America (with millions of each, how could ther not be?), but there is nothing against performances that have a Christmas theme as long as the school isn’t endorsing Christianity (and Christmas is barely Christian) or the performance isn’t an attempt toconvert. It’s safe to say that THE NUTCRACKER won’t turn someone into Pat Robertson.
As for TEACHING about religions, that is, indeed, a school’s mission. I am glad that Bill did the Passover presentation each year. More presentations from other faiths would be even better, and we would all eat better, too. I wish that my white-bread suburb (where I grew up) had had more people of more faiths.
Damn: This is making me hungry for some garlic matzohs.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 02:05 pm 25
Matthew, even today, we have the gentiles over to our house for Chanukah every year. If they don’t get their latkes here, where will they get them? Arteries don’t just clog themselves, you know.
And of course we have Christmas Eve and Greek Easter celebrations to look forward to every year.
Elyrest Mar 27th 2010 at 02:25 pm 26
Oh! Latkes!! MMmmmmmm!!! I had a friend in high school whose mother, Jewish of course, made latkes to die for. I’m sure my friend thought I was more interested in those crispy little potato cakes than her.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 02:31 pm 27
Rumor has it that I make great latkes. I have to take people’s word for it though, because I don’t like latkes. I guess that sort of works out, leaving me in the kitchen for half the evening working two frypans side-by-side trying to keep up with the demand.
Elyrest Mar 27th 2010 at 02:36 pm 28
Cidi Bill - How can someone NOT like latkes? I guess it takes all kinds. At least you are kind enough to make them for others.
You live in New Jersey, right? Hmm? I haven’t been to New Jersey since college.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 02:38 pm 29
Actually, Elyrest, there’s very little “Jewish food” I like. I attribute this to having grandmothers who were possibly the two worst cooks in the universe.
CaroZ Mar 27th 2010 at 02:56 pm 30
The Passover jellies and candies never made it to my house when I was a kid. Sometimes some of the mandel slices or (my favorite) kichel showed up, along with the ubiquitous macaroons. I guess we weren’t much of a candy-eating family.
Despite being Ashkenazi (if not so observant), I always enjoyed matzo with peanut butter all week long, even while shunning Passover cakes as somehow a cheat even if they were within the letter of the law.
The comic does come across as rather trite and annoying, but to me the worst part is the “most unique” phrasing in Panel 1. It’s like asking “which U. S. president is most Obama?”
Morris Keesan Mar 27th 2010 at 03:05 pm 31
CaroZ, I’ve always felt the same way about cakes, and even more so about the “popovers” my mother used to make, which were essentially bread rolls made with matzah meal, and egg whites instead of yeast. I’ve never understood the point of going to such great lengths to simulate the food you’re not supposed to be eating.
I’m somewhat amused that we’re having this long discussion of Jewish religious practice on Shabbat. Clearly, none of us are overly observant. (It’s not the discussion on Shabbat that’s at all inappropriate; it’s the technological method of discourse)
mitch4 Mar 27th 2010 at 03:18 pm 32
Speaking of latkes, a strange tradition from here at the University of Chicago is the Latke-Hamentashen Debate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latke%E2%80%93Hamantash_Debate
http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2009/10/20/discussion-of-the-importance-of-the-latke-hamentash-debate-no-laughing-matter
mitch4 Mar 27th 2010 at 03:24 pm 33
And speaking of Shabbas traditions, in the current New Yorker a piece about the Obama Administration’s relations with Israel, reaching back into some personal history, says a young Obama in Springfield was in effect shabbos goy for an Orthodox colleague.
CaroZ Mar 27th 2010 at 03:29 pm 34
Good point, Morris. Shabbos sholom; over and out.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 04:21 pm 35
Mitch, I read that article, and remarked to my wife that only in the New Yorker would they say something like that and not feel the need to explain the term.
NoAlias Mar 27th 2010 at 04:51 pm 36
1. My kids were always the only Jewish kids in school. Being from a bi-religion family, they chose to play up the Jewish-ness at holiday times, just to be different.
2. I don’t like those jelly candies at all, and kosher for Passover marshmallow stuff is barely tolerable, but everything else is delicious.
3. Non-Jews can be hilarious to the rest of us: in college, the Economics professor was apparently Jewish and used gefilte fish as his ‘product’ when explaining the concept of supply and demand. (As the demand for gefilte fish went up, and the supply went down, the price would go up, etc.) The student body was most definitely not familiar - one guy asked the prof what a gefilte fish was and couldn’t he bring one in to pass around the lecture hall. I guess the guy thought a gefilte fish must have been like a rockfish, or a gold fish. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) and I just rolled on the floor imagining what that poor gloopy ball of cold jellied fish moosh would look like after it was passed hand to hand through all 500 students in the hall!
DanV Mar 27th 2010 at 05:01 pm 37
Just want to say, what a nice, respectful, informative discussion. Good going, guys! The internet needs more of this, for sure.
Winter Wallaby Mar 27th 2010 at 05:26 pm 38
Thanks, NoAlias. I’ve often wondered to myself, “How could gefilte fish be made even more disgusting than it already is?” Now I know.
Matthew Mar 27th 2010 at 07:06 pm 39
Christmas, Chanukah, Western Easter, Orthodox Easter, Passover–this is what religions are good for: holidays, food, candy, & wine! Can we find enough holidays so that we would work only, say, one day a week? Isn’t that truly what the great Gaia wants?
Sari Everna Mar 27th 2010 at 07:49 pm 40
Well, I don’t know about Gaia, but I know it’s what I want. If we can only make enough of the holidays actual holidays(by which I mean we get time off), then we will be a truly happy society.
Although I’m not sure who will be making all the food, candy, and wine if we do that, though. I suspect it will involve slaves. Or maybe specially bred monkeys, dogs, dolphins, or elephants, since they’ve got the smarts to do that kind of thing. Or maybe robots.
Morris Keesan Mar 27th 2010 at 09:30 pm 41
Sari, I don’t know about the robots making the food for us, but we can go in the other direction, and get the robots to observe the holiday rituals: See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgeX_8tBCY
And CaroZ #33, I really hope you (and everybody else) didn’t take my comment #31 as any kind of criticism; I’m no more shomer shabbos than the next person, and I wasn’t suggesting that anybody else should be. I was just making an observation.
CIDU Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 09:33 pm 42
Sari, I’ve seen enough movies to know that never ends well.
John B. Mar 27th 2010 at 10:11 pm 43
I love those candies! I’m not Jewish, but I eat that stuff anyhow. Jelly rings, fruit slices, etc. I even had Passover Coke! (made with REAL sugar!) Good stuff!
David N Mar 27th 2010 at 10:34 pm 44
I bought a box of the chocolate marshmallow twists tonight, only getting them because of this and past years discussions. Not being Jewish I have no experience with them but what the heck, I’ll try. It was funny to see Emeril’s horseradish sitting on the shelf next to all the specialty food.
I had a twist just before coming here. I’ll have to get back to you on it.
Cidu Bill Mar 27th 2010 at 10:37 pm 45
Try freezing the chocolate twists.
Bob in Nashville Mar 28th 2010 at 07:30 am 46
I’m just guessing that a screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” wouldn’t be considered age-appropriate as a re-telling of Exodus.
But a lot of us first watched it as children.
Bearman Mar 28th 2010 at 08:16 am 47
Sadly every one of those “treats” taste just as bad as matza.
UGH..those jelly things are the worse.
They did use to have just a chocolate sucker on a stick which was good.
David A. Rooney Mar 28th 2010 at 10:03 am 48
The Exodus story always bothered me - especially the discussion between God and Moses, when he’s told to ask Pharoh to let the Hebrews go. It always sounded like a parent telling one kid “go ask your older brother if you can play with his toys”, then dashing ahead to whisper in the older kid’s ear “your brother is too young to use your stuff, its too dangerous for him”. Then, when the younger kid cries out “Da-ad! He won’t let me use anything!” the parent whips off his belt and starts wailing on the older kid saying “How many time have I told you to share with your brother!?”
Of course, God was the one who let Moses’ grandparents get sold into slavery in the first place because his great-grandparents pissed Him off.
Sili Mar 28th 2010 at 10:26 am 49
I’m amused by the robot celebration. Mostly because they have to be ‘making fire’ continually to go through the motions.
Matthew Mar 28th 2010 at 11:50 am 50
Sari, we could work one day a week, making food, candy, & wine.
Yes, Bill, the movies have been great predictors of the perils of the future. Hey! It’s already 2010! Shouldn’t Roy Scheider be finding Keir Dullea ’round now?
I’m taking a walk to the store in a few minutes. Predicting my future, I foresee matzohs, jellies, & macaroons in my future.
On a completely different topic: A robin couple is building a nest atop my air-conditioner (wall unit). I have brushed off the twig twice, but they have it in their little heads that this is their spot. The spot is right by my back door, and it’s really not a big deal, but I’d sort o’ rather discourage ‘em. Any suggestions?
Happy Palm Sunday, Christians. Happy Summer Time, Brits. And, considering that it is just a day away, Happy Pesach, Jews.
Lola Mar 28th 2010 at 12:15 pm 51
hahaha Matthew. You’re asking CIDU Bill for advice on wayward bird troubles?
http://comicsidontunderstand.com/wordpress/?s=cardinal
Elyrest Mar 28th 2010 at 01:03 pm 52
I had forgotten about Cidu Bill’s “bird bashing”. Matthew, from my experience keep taking the nest apart as soon as you see it if you don’t want it there. I had a bird that tried to build a nest on the light on the outside of my garage. I knew that it would be bad for all so I kept taking it down every day. The bird gave up and moved to a new safe spot.
Keera Mar 28th 2010 at 02:27 pm 53
Matthew #49, why do only the Brits get a mention? All of Europe switched to DST last night.
Sincerely,
Sleep-deprived in Norway
Mark in Boston Mar 28th 2010 at 03:29 pm 54
As for Bible readings in schools, it was the fundamentalist Christians who wanted Bible readings taken OUT of schools in the first place — because some schools were reading from the WRONG Bible! (Douay or New Authorized instead of KJV, or KJV instead of New Authorized, depending on which Fundamentalist group was unhappy.)
Matthew Mar 28th 2010 at 06:20 pm 55
Thanks, Elyrest. I may try it, or I may let nature take its course. I don’t know how happy the birds will be when I flip on the air-conditioner in June. I can move the recycling bins directly beside that wall to another convenient location, so they won’t be guano’d, let us say, and if Papa Robin doesn’t attack when I go in & out with my bicycle, then perhaps I can live with nature. I haven’t decided, and I welcome more opinions on this matter.
Keera, I am sorry to ignore the rest of Europe (or North-West Asia, as I sometimes call it). My datebk simply mentioned today as the start of “British Summer Time”. I did no research about other lands. The Brits, often trying to pretend that they don’t REALLY belong to Europe, I assumed would select a day different from the rest. I wish you a good night’s sleep tonight as your nights get draMATically shorter.
Keera Mar 29th 2010 at 05:08 am 56
Matthew #55, that island nation does not follow the crowd, it’s true. It is, however, a member of the European Union, and the EU and cooperating nations switch to DST in unison. Your datebk (do you mean the Palm software?) should reword itself.
Matthew Mar 29th 2010 at 05:54 am 57
What a lovely vision of co-operation, Keera: Early on a particular Sunday morning (Domingo, Dimanche), groggy European arms reach for analog clocks & twist little dials ’round; they reach for digital clocks & hold down buttons; they glance at their cellphones, their t.v.s, their Palm Pilots, their Blackberrys, to make sure that the satellites have done their work, and suddenly two dozen nations have leapt forward an hour and all can sleep the sleep of the well-set.
Personally, I dislike daylight saving time, and would rather that the world would stay on one time all year ’round. I don’t mind an early sunrise, and I have no penchant for this “extra” hour of light at day’s end. I would like four a.m. to be the same on January 1st & July 1st, letting the solar system do its thing w/out any human manipulation.
Oh, and my datebook is just that: real, honest-to-god paper bound at one end in which I write using real, honest-to-god graphite & ink: very (apparently) old school, but you can rest assured that I have, in ink, emended “British Summet Time” to “European Summer Time”. May all your daffodils bloom.
mkilby Mar 29th 2010 at 07:17 am 58
DST is suppose to “save” time, but the result is the exact opposite. Just for fun, I kept a list of the devices that I had to manually adjust on Sunday morning: 3 clock radios, 2 radio+CD players, 1 digital camera, 1 VCR, 1 answering machine, 1 cordless telephone base station, 1 car (dashboard), and 1 car radio (in the same car). That’s eleven devices, and it doesn’t even count the 10+ clocks in the house (of which only 4 use the automatic radio signal), nor 5+ watches, and I won’t even bother listing all the computer, Palm, and mobile phone equipment. All told, I end up changing (or at least confirming a correct change) for 30 to 40 separate devices, some of which have extremely non-intuitive setting methods. What a waste of time!
I only recently learned that the EU staggers the rollover times so that all the EU time zones change at the same instant: Germany is GMT+1, so the jump here is 2 am to 3 am, but in the United Kingdom (GMT) it occurs from 1 am to 2 am. It makes a lot of sense, and would seem like an obvious thing to do for the 4 time zones in the continental USA.
Keera Mar 29th 2010 at 07:44 am 59
Matthew, #57, I asked because the Palm does have a calendar program called Datebk (and I miss it and my Palm). My MacBook, my iPod and my TV decoder all reset themselves. Bless ‘em. But for the rest, I do what mkilby #58 does: Sit back after all the other readjustments and marvel at the list of clocks a household can contain. And really, I want some system where anything plugged in automatically gets adjusted. Personally, I want DST all year round. This far north, it’s nice to have a bit of daylight for errands after work in the winter, too.
mkilby, I didn’t know the UK switches at the same moment. Reading up on it, I have now learned that Europe simply switches at 1 AM GMT, which makes it at 2 AM for CET. I’ve also learned that Finland now uses DST. Having lived in the US, I think switching at 2 AM local time makes sense. The US has five time zones to consider (Hawaii doesn’t use DST), not Europe’s three.
mkilby Mar 29th 2010 at 09:58 am 60
@ Keera (59) - Normal “plug in” clocks (such as most clock radios) ARE adjusted automatically: they use the cycle count in the 50 or 60 Hz AC power supply to keep synchronized. In many regions power grid managers keep track of the daily fluctuations, and tweak the frequency to keep the average number of cycles correct, so that everyone’s clocks don’t “drift”. This is why a European clock radio (on a transformer) will not keep proper time in the USA: the clock expects 50 Hz, so when you feed it 60 Hz it will gain 12 minutes per hour.
P.S. My Palm Vx is aging, but still works just fine. I upgraded it to Palm OS 4.1, so it has a simple checkbox that activates DST, making it easier to change than almost all the other clocks in the house. (I never bothered with Datebk, the regular calendar has covered my needs just fine). The main reason I’ve kept such an old device (rather than upgrading) is that I can use it for up to two weeks without recharging.
Keera Mar 29th 2010 at 11:57 am 61
mkilby, none of my Norwegian clock radios have ever reset themselves automatically, not even my brand-new JBR iPod player/radio thingy. Which did surprise me.
Naomi Mar 29th 2010 at 06:18 pm 62
Matthew - we have a lot of robins’ nests, including on top of two sconce lights (which we never turn on because of the birds) by the front door. I have a flower garden nearby, and the male flies around excitedly and yells at me whenever I work there, but he’s never actually attacked. It’s kind of fun, actually. After the baby hatched and grew, it yelled at me also
However, I worry yours might be unhappy when you turn on the air conditioner, and waste a lot of energy moving the nest. I did a little looking online and they will probably have the first brood hatched and possibly gone by then, depending on where you live and exactly when you turn on the air conditioner, but all the sources say they can have two to three broods a year. If you want to look at a very entertaining series of photos someone took of a robin’s nest below their window, see If you are sufficiently charmed by the idea of having a nest so close, maybe you can find a bird expert who will know whether they’ll care about the air conditioner being on (they might like it for all we know - at least it would provide a drip of water in hot weather.)
Naomi Mar 29th 2010 at 06:20 pm 63
Matthew - oops, I see my attempt to include the URL of the robin’s nest story failed (and made my sentences join confusingly.) I’ll try again:
http://www.i-pets.com/rpet19.html
mitch4 Mar 29th 2010 at 07:04 pm 64
My iHome devices (like a clock-radio-alarm with an iPod dock built in) did not switch to DST automatically; BUT they spared me the effort to decode the obscure time-set routine many of my clocks or gizmos require, by having a particular physical switch on the rear panel reserved for switching up or down just one hour. It’s labeled DST and the two positions are marked with plus and minus signs.
Matthew Mar 29th 2010 at 09:59 pm 65
Naomi, thank you SO MUCH for your information & for the link to the robin photo series. It was interesting. Julie Corsi, who took the pictures of the robin’s nest, lives around Chicago, so my robins, in Nashville, may finish before I must turn on the air-conditioner. If they then move to another site, all could be fine. I’m torn about this. My landlord advised me to continue to discourage them, because they will bring bugs right against my house. There will be no water for them. The a.-c. doesn’t drip. As I am about to leave town for a long weekend, the robins may get their way. I certainly won’t remove a nest with eggs in it.
Again, thanks.
Keera Mar 30th 2010 at 03:30 am 66
Matthew #65, I wouldn’t trust the water coming out of an AC, anyway. And your landlord is right. Also, birds poop. A LOT. I had a bird feeder up this winter for the first time (because Europe froze for once) and oh, my, goodness, do they POOP.
Jesse Mar 31st 2010 at 03:44 pm 67
no kugel???
Joshua Mar 31st 2010 at 09:35 pm 68
harvling: “Kitniyot” is a Hebrew word referring to certain foods, mostly legumes, which are considered acceptable for eating during Passover by some Jews but unacceptable by other Jews.
Incidentally, I am stunned by the idea that there are people who have tried Joyva Ring Jells and don’t like them.